MR. MAYER’S ORATION. 
777 
In Professor Coleman we had a man of no ordinary intellect. 
He was far above mediocrity in point of talent, and every way 
qualified to occupy the high position to which the governors of 
that establishment had called him. His understanding and genius 
were competent to grasp every subject belonging to his pro- 
fession ; and the ingenuity and tact (peculiar to himself) with 
which he pursued a given object, will not be forgotten by those 
who had the pleasure and honour of sitting under his instruction. 
He possessed a generous and a warm heart towards all his pupils, 
uniformly taking an interest in their future welfare. The energies 
of his mind were more exclusively devoted to every thing bearing 
upon the horse ; and no wonder, for the College, constructed as 
it was and is, can only be adapted for the reception of that ani- 
mal. Consequently it alone, of all our domesticated animals, 
has absorbed the whole attention, until very lately, of the profes- 
sors of that establishment. 
In Mr. Coleman’s early career, and even until within a very 
few years, the veterinary art, so far as regards its application to 
cattle, sheep, swine, dogs, &c., was in the lowest state of bar- 
barism and degradation. We cannot, therefore, feel surprised 
that Professor Coleman, beset by so many opposing obstacles in 
that particular branch of our art, and having arrived at an ad- 
vanced period of life, could not fling himself into its pursuit : nor 
'Was it reasonable to expect it from him. It is only the other day 
that Youatt, in his Treatise on Cattle, Sheep, &c., has given a 
scientific form to the veterinary art, as applied to those animals. 
He it is to whom belongs the honour of having erected a beautiful 
and well-arranged structure out of the crudest and most hetero- 
geneous materials, and which will be far more durable to his fame 
than monuments of brass or marble. 
You will kindly pardon this digression ; but I hope, after what 
I have stated, we shall no longer hear Mr. Coleman reflected upon 
for not accomplishing impossibilities. I shall ever esteem the 
man, and revere his memory ; and although I feel myself incapa- 
ble to do full justice to his merits, yet posterity will. 
Surrounded and connected as he was bv and with all the 
galaxy of scientific and medical talent of his day — inferior to none 
in the world — he was enabled, by their generosity and kindness 
in admitting the veterinary students to their respective lectures; 
by their devoting themselves to the examination of the students 
as to their qualification to practise ; by their condescension in 
attaching their signatures to our diplomas, and thus, as it were, 
casting over us a portion of their mantles, which gave us a weight 
and importance in the eyes of the world that told well for the 
profession — but these valuable and adventitious aids, so useful in 
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